are on the down side. transports on the up side today. >> all right. we have the earnings from aig and bob benmosche joins us to run down those numbers. that's coming up now on the second hour of the "closing bell." and welcome back to the "closing bell." i'm mandy here for maria bartiromo. >> here's what we're following at the chose right now. the dow within just a few points of retaking the 13,000 level after encouraging economic data in both the u.s., on the jobs front and in europe on the growth front. meanwhile, oil prices continue to move higher. light sweet crude rallied for a sixth straight day. settled at a little more than a nine-month high. but late this afternoon, we are now at $108.12 a barrel. waiting for earnings from aig.

ceo robert benmosche will be here momentarily to break down the results. the first time cnbc interview. >> let's look how we finished the day on wall street. will we hit 13,000 for the day? it's done and dusted. the next thing i tweeted out, does it matter anyway. that remains to be seen. the nasdaq was the clear winner in percentage terms. up by 23 points. the s&p 500 holding above what has been stiff resistance of 1360. we're sitting there at 1363. bob pisani has more, our eye on the floor. >> that was good. my point about today is, we have -- while it's not a dramatic move, we, again, pushed forward u even as europe didn't do anything. three days in a row now, europe is down and we've been sideways. the performance in the last three or four days, we're splitting off from europe in a very noticeable way. there's the s&p 500. up for the last three days. and look at spain, portugal,

there, and even, yes, germany showing signs of starting to roll over a little bit today. and for the move up today, you can thank, very much thank biflt. what did ibm do? well, they didn't do anything. what they did is in opposition to hewlett-packard. earnings generally were viewed as better than hewlett-packard. hewlett-packard reported last night, earnings were down about 40%. you see that got hit very hard in the dow. but ibm, do the math op that, multiply roughly by seven, that's about 25 points in the dow jones industrials. home depot better today. you can thank the results from target for that. chevron, oil again, strong. jpmorgan on the up side. banks one of the weak groups recently, or moving sideways, was slightly on the up side today. airlines had a terrible week overall. just take a look at the numbers in the declines we've seen in the airlines as the price of oil has moved to the up side. but remember, the airline companies raised prices in january, and february, so they're not all going to get necessarily hit that bad.

they've got some money to cover it. finally, guys, i was asked why the italian banks were weak today. there is a ban on short selling of italian banks, that's going to end tomorrow. the volume was unusually heavy in all the italian banks. most of them trade over in new york, not here at the nyse. >> as we await the earnings report from aig, and i'll just give you the estimate, they're expecting earnings of 63 cents a share. before we get to that, let's get to some of the other business headlines right now. president obama warning voters that the solution for reducing high gasoline prices is not more drilling. speaking at the university of miami today, as he embarks on a series of fund-raisers. he said it encompasses oil, natural gags and alternatives. but warned about promises of his republican presidential challengers who may promise $2 a gallon gas if the u.s. just drills more. >> step one is to drill and step

two is to drill, and step three is to keep drilling. we heard the same line in 2007 when i was running for president. we hear the same thing every year. we've heard the same thing for 30 years. well, the american people aren't stupid. they know that's not a plan. especially since we're already drilling. that's a bumper sticker. >> elsewhere, nothing gained, nothing lost. the weekly jobless claims held steady last week, 351,000. the current level of claims is at its lowest point since march of 2008. the four-week moving average which smooths out that number for volatility, it fell by 7,000 to 358,000. car shoppers are not only enjoying low interest rates, but more money available to take out a loan for that new ride. the u.s. lenders increased auto loans by 4% in the fourth quarter, according to a new

report out by experian automotive. car loans outstanding was $850 billion, more evidence that lenders are encouraged by the nation's economic recovery. auto loan delinquencies and the amount of loans fell by 9%. >> the dow closing only 15 points away from the 13,000 mark, after investors were encouraged by good news right out of the gate from the jobs market. what it will finally take to get to that number and keep it? let's ask chief investment officer at deutsche bank. joining in the conversation is david kelley, at jpmorgan funds. david, you take a crack at that. 13,000, okay, we've already touched it. so what. how are we going to keep it and move above it? >> i think it's all about confidence. what we're seeing in the u.s. economy right now is sort of a gradual meltup in confidence. people are dismissing recession, it appears beginning to believe in the expansion, that's leading to more hiring, more auto sales,

more housing numbers, or better housing numbers, better unemployment claims. that drip of good news, that is causing investors now to put money back into equity neutral funds. that's what i think is driving this. and has been driving this for the last few weeks. so if we continue to get an increase in consumer confidence, i think we will see the market move higher throughout this year. >> ben, do you agree with david? and if you were listening to bob pisani's report a few moments ago, he was saying recently we've started to diverge from the performance of europe. europe is stuck with its own problems, stock markets down in that. can we convincingly here in the u.s. go our own path upwards oh? >> we're underweight european equities. when the markets started to move, it took all the stocks with them. now that you're having the divergence, it makes sense based on what's going on economically in europe, where they're in a recession right now. versus what we're seeing in the u.s. where we seem to be comfortably 2% to 2.5% grks dp

growth. we've been ten years of multiple contraction, and valuations are cheap. but what's the catalyst to really get them moving. we're a little cautious here. we think it will tread water, the markets around these levels, have a tough time breaking through. but ultimately will sometime in 2012. >> and i tend to agree with that. our statistical work shows that price earnings ratios are tied to confidence also. that, of course, makes perfect sense. we don't expect to see a big lift in earnings this year. but as people feel more confident about the economic environment, they'll be willing to move more money towards equities. that, in fact, i think will push up pe ratios over the course of this year. unless we get hit by some other shot. >> where do you think potentially we could melt up to? >> i'm not going to give you a target for this year. i'll say that over the next five years there's no reason why the s&p 500 couldn't give you 8% to 10% per year on average. but it's impossible to forecast

over a few months. >> ben, if you think we could potentially tread water around here for a while, how do you invest in that environment? how do you still make some money? >> what we've done, mandy, is that we don't want to chase equities right now at these levels. we're already overweight the general asset class. but we do think that the riskier fixed income classes, like high yield, emerging market bonds, and then the commodities asset class is another one, and all three of those we actually increased the weighting to last week in our portfolios. >> i was surprised to see, ben, you've's got a year-end forecast for -- >> be careful about the core fixed income. we think interest rates will move up in that environment. but you'll have enough spread contraction in the high yield space to offset that. we don't expect much of a default rate. you're getting about 8% yield in the asset class right now. >> to both of you, ben and david, thank you so much for joining us today. >> good seeing you, mandy.

>> we're still waiting for the earnings from aig, the insurance giant. they should be out any moment now. and when they come out, ceo robert benmosche will describe what it will take to turn the company around. >> i'm seema mody reporting live from the pharma conference. coming up, we'll take a deep dive into the generic drug market, who the winners and losers are, and how investors are trading the space. here's another question. will the usda guidelines slow it down. here's highlights from our guests on cnbc today. >> it's become clear that hiring has declined. the real question is what it means for the apparels, how quickly will hiring pick up. >> this time of the year, over

the past ten years we've seen an uptick in prices as the market switches from winter grade gasoline to summer grade gasoline. cleaner burning gasoline is better for the environment, costs more to produce. at the same time consumption and demand increases as the days get longer. >> in the euro, you haven't seen anyone trying to weaken the euro. i think they're happy to see it go lower if it does. i think it helps the situation over there. and desperately in need of some help. >> romney needs to win michigan, period. this is a neck-and-neck race. i think he's going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at santorum. if santorum wins this, it goes on a long, long, long time.

aig just out. literally, with their fourth quarter numbers here. i've got them right here, folks. and you're up at this point, bob. the stock is up 1.8% as they come out here. estimates were for 63 cents a share. and it looks like you've turned in 82 cents per share. i'm going to bring in chairman and ceo robert benmosche.

you had a very good quarter. >> we did. you know, the headline numbers, $19.8 billion for the quarter, of which $17.7 billion is the tax asset. as you know, we had a lot of losses a couple of years ago. this says we can now show in the future, we'll have enough profits to use those tax credits. even excludeing that, we had a great operating quarter. >> was it growth? were you putting in fewer reserves? what was going on here? >> we have a combination of things. one is that a lot of people are concerned about our reserves. this quarter, we had a $13 million favorable in the reserve. for the year, like $190 million negative, $195 million negative. so our reserves are in great shape. we've been saying that all year long. the fact is that our businesses are in great shape. people are worried about the aig franchises. they were damaged. the fact is, all of the operating units are now performing well, which we've been saying all year. and people are waiting for, but there's no but here.

we're just doing well. >> there was a fear that the thai floods that they sustained in thailand might have a material impact on your quarter. did they? >> we've had excess cash for the whole year. we had about $3.3 billion in catastrophe costs versus maybe $1 billion to $1.5 billion in a normal tough year. thailand was about $368 million of that number. so a big charge. but it wasn't outrageous, so to speak. the hard one was japan in the first quarter, as you know, with that earthquake. but thailand was a little above of what we would like to see, but we're in the insurance business. >> anything can happen. so what's your outlook, all things being equal for 2012 here? >> we see a solid result for aig, continuing to build on what we have. we're working towards our 2015 aspirational goals. we see the economy pretty strong right now. we see jobs continuing to be strong, housing is getting better. so all of that bodes well for our business.

so we're pretty optimistic about a good 2012. >> as we all know, the government still owns a majority interest in aig from the bailout of a few years ago. you said something, and i know how irreverent you can be sometimes, but you told the wall street crowd the other day that you would rather have the treasury department owning shares of your company than the wall street crowd, because they don't stay very long. >> i did say that. >> aren't you glad i remembered? >> i'm glad you remembered that, bill. but what i learned is that wall street is interested in good stocks. they're not necessarily interested in good companies. sometimes they are together or not. our job is to build a great company, and have the stock that people want to invest in. but it's not a stock that we're going to focus on the trader. we're going to focus on the owner, the person who wants to buy the stock for the long haul is waiting for us to perform over a long period of time. so treasury is really in here. to want to be able to sell, not to trade it, but to sell so they can make a profit for the american taxpayers.

that's our goal. that's their goal. and we think we're going to achieve that. >> what are you doing different than you ordinarily would do, by the fact that the federal government still owns 77% of your company? >> absolutely nothing. we're working hard for our shareholders. they're just a big one. but we're doing what we want to do for our shareholders, our clients, and our employees. >> is there a timetable for divestiture for the government? >> they want to get out as quickly as they can. it's not natural for them to own companies. they want to get out as prudently and quickly as they can. >> they have been divesting themselves of the automakers that they bailed out a few years ago. what's holding up a sale of aig shares? >> well, we're looking at the close today. we're within a dollar of their break even for the t.a.r.p. money given to us. they feel with our performance, they should be able to sell that stock for a profit, or break even for the american taxpayer. there's no reason for the american taxpayer to take a loss, if they don't have to. i think the treasury wants to

make sure we give back the t.a.r.p. money. they're not looking to play the stock market, they want to get back the money from aig to the taxpay taxpayer. >> what will drive your growth to move presumably the share price higher? very low interest rate environment is never good for your company, is it. >> the fact is, everybody has to get used to this new normal of low rates. we have seen our business continue to grow with low interest rates. so that's one of the buts. the but is, we're doing fine. the fact is, people still need to save for their retirement. the baby boom generation has to face that retirement and put their money to work. the annuities we sell, the variable annuities which we sell which involve stocks, for example, all of those products are selling reasonably well in this market. so we're still seeing good product sales. you've seen positive flows this year, versus prior years. all the numbers are moving in the right direction. >> you just have to hope the stock market keeps going higher here. >> i think we have to hope that

we continue to do well. understanding markets go up and down. but keep in mind we also as a company have risk manager strategies. but we provide the public certain guarantees. so regardless, the volatility says to us, we'll make the right guarantees to you, and we'll take care of that volatility. >> another growth driver would be who's sitting in the ceo chair. now, once upon a time you said you wouldn't stay much past 2012. but lately you've been hinting that you will go beyond that date, yes? >> yes, i have. >> how much longer? >> well, look, i'd like to stay through this year, maybe part of next year, it's up to the board. unfortunately i have cancer. >> i know. >> unfortun having a lot of idl my head is not necessarily what i want. and so for me, i'm enjoying what i'm doing. it keeps me energized. it's a combination of i'm providing value, the board feels i'm providing value. i'm not necessarily in a hurry to run into retirement as i was

before. i did it for three years, i enjoyed it, but i'm loving what i'm doing right now with aig. >> we can hope you can go beyond 2012, and i don't want to get personal, but that it means you are feeling better. >> there's no guarantee, but all i know is, i'm going to keep going until i can. >> you look good. you came down to the new york stock exchange. next time you join us, we'll be sitting in our new studio downstairs. >> look forward to it. it looks great down there. >> bob benmosche, great to see you. >> sorry about the way we started. >> we got the numbers out. and the market response is there. >> aig is not the only stock making waves in the after hours. brian shactman has all the other action straight ahead. we'll head to cupertino, we'll head to cupertino, california, to talk apple. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so, i want to trade at a place that really gets who i am tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and what i need. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and still gives me a great price. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, you get everything you need

aig is among the stocks making moves in the after-hours trade. brian shactman is rounding up all the action for us right now. >> they're up 3.5%. they pulled back a little bit. they were up 5% about a minute and a half ago. in terms of operating income, they definitely came through on top. of course, good to see robert benmosche up and healthy. the stock up more than 20% year-to-date. i want to touch on crocs.

revenue didn't impress. the stock is actually down 10.5%. on top of the revenue guidance below consensus, the stock up 38% year-to-date. maybe people are just jumping out right now. it's been a darling the last couple of years. sales force beat by 3 cents. the it is up 8% for guidance. revenue okay. eps a little disappointing. the rare earth company, a lot of work on them. met on the bottom line, slightly light on revenue. actually, i spoke exclusively with the ceo mark smith before their conference call at 4:30 p.m. eastern time. get the comments on cnbc.com. guidance bracketed expectations, a little disappointing, up initially. ortho below consensus.

the stock up 1.75%. >> it is a new era for apple. and today is the first shareholder meeting with tim cook, ceo. investors are watching closely issues like labor conditions in china, and dividends with jon fortt, watching very closely, joining us from the apple headquarters with more details. hey, jon. >> yeah, mandy, the meeting started at 1:00, was over by 2:00. it looks like some of the people we went home and bought stock. all the directors got reelected, got elected with 80-plus percent of the preliminary vote. the directors now must get a majority vote in order to be elected to their post. that was something that apple initially did not want shareholders to vote for, but they saw the preliminary vote was strong for that, so they said, okay, we're going to do that. and by the way, the current directors, if they don't get a majority, they will voluntarily resign. issues on conflict of interest

disclosure. directors say on pay and political contributions from apple. there were resolutions about those. those all failed. there was protesters out here talking about labor in china. i want to let you hear what one of them had to say. >> a living wage is something that should be global. you know, when you're talking about an emerging economy like china or whatever, you don't emerge at the expense of people killing themselves. >> now, this is going to be a challenge for apple going forward, particularly for their brand, because they've sort of become the poster child for the labor conditions in china. now, apple's argument is, we're actually doing more than our peers, in order to improve the conditions for workers there. but it's something they continue to have to talk about, and there was a small clutch of about a dozen protesters out here. >> interesting stuff, jon fortt. still to come on the show, focus on pharmaceuticals. as generic drug makers establish companies on the block.

we'll give you the lowdown on the biggest foreign play on the generics. >> one of the biggest generic drugmakers of them all, watson pharmaceuticals. the ceo joins us for a cnbc exclusive interview, coming up, after this. stay with us.

u.s. markets ended to up p side, even though european markets were down. gap reported after the close, numbers better than expected. that was for the quarter. the problem is, the guidance for the year is just about on the disappointing side. let's just say it's roughly in line with expectations. i think people were expecting a little bit more. that stock is not doing much in the after hours. finally, i want to note, home builders have returned to positive territory, a bit today. a nice move to the up side. they had been going sideways. tomorrow is a big number. we'll get january new home sales. we're expecting spring home buying season to be pretty strong, so we'll look for some

kind of hint that that might be happening. back to you. >> thanks, bob. big pharma has a big headache. as many brand name drugs are going generic in the next few years. and also moving into reap the profits are the foreign drug companies. seema mody has more details from the pharmaceutical conference in beautiful orlando. it's beautiful here, too, seema, by the way. >> good to know. mandy, interesting fact for you actually. neeshl 80% of prescription that are filled here in the united states are generic. let me just tell you why. one of the reasons we've seen the shift to generic drugs. first is a string of blockbuster drugs that have come off patent in 2012 and 2013, as well as consumers who are shopping for lower cost options. generics are gaining consumer confidence and seen as an effective and safe alternative to the branded drug. the biggest opportunity in history was, of course, last november, when watson, teva

launched their generic version of lipitor. now, the question is, though, which drugs present the next lucrative opportunity for these highly competitive generic companies. the top of the list is bristol-myers blood thinner plavix, which is a $1.6 billion. 90% of market share is lost in the first three months to the generic player. we understand that two international drugmakers are working on a generic version of plavix. another source of revenue, after the patent expirations, we spoke to a health care expert and investor. here's what he had to say. >> the big opportunity is that over the next ten years, over $100 billion of brand biotech drugs will go generic. >> so what are these by oh logics? they're the highly complex

molecules derived from living cells. they see this as the next big opportunity, and a couple already getting a head start with approvals in europe, of biosimilars. and by 2020, biologics is $120 billion in annual sales will have lost patent protection. that's when the generic drugmakers are expected to sweep in. that gives you where the market is pegged at and where the future of the industry is moving towards. >> seema, i'll take it here. as that conference goes on, i'll point out tomorrow we'll be talking to the new fda commissioner. dr. hamburg taking over. and one of the things that she's dealing with these days is the tremendous backlog in approval of generic drugs. and the production of some of those. and we want to talk about that, among other things, in a cnbc exclusive tomorrow. she'll be joining us here tomorrow on "closing bell" on cnbc.

joining us exclusively right now is the president and ceo paul basssar who is at the conference in orlando. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you for having me. >> this is a sweet spot for your industry right now, with all the brand name drugs going off patent. how long does this last, in your view? >> well, i think it will last for a fair number of years. we have all seen a good growth this year in 2011 and going into '12. last year we launched lipitor. but there's more to come. there's certainly not a doom and gloom scenario here. we think we've got a lot of growth runway pay head of us. >> what do you make of the backlog at the fda for approval of all a lot of these? 125 different drugs right now. does that concern you? what can be done to try to alleviate it in your view? >> well, that has been a major concern for our whole industry. in fact, we just negotiated this

year with the fda, generic drug user fees, fee programs to give the fda additional money to hire additional people to get that backlog down. i think it's the industry doing the sensible thing to improve not only the industry's prospects, but also to bring lower costs, very high quality products to consumers and lowering health costs in the united states. >> there's no perception of conflict when you guys are partly footing the bill for the approval of the drugs that you're making? >> well, that's -- that's certainly an issue. that's been a concern. i think we've developed a program that avoids any potential conflict. it's very similar to what happens on the brand side now with the peduffa legislation. brand pharmaceuticals have been paying fees for a number of years. i think we've overcome the conflict issue and i think this program does as well. >> what i find interesting in your particular strategy at watson, you aspire now to make acquisitions in the brand name drug industry. i mean, you're taking it the

other direction, which suggests to me that you realize there will connellme a day when this of drugs will slow to a trickle, yes? >> i wouldn't characterize it as a trickle. but we've been continuing to grow at the rate we've been able to grow at. i think it's not something that can be sustained when the industry is moving away from small molecule development. and by that, we mean the regular traditional pharmaceutical products and moving toward more biosimilars. in the strategy of our generic platform and expanding internationally, we've worked on a very aggressive program to improve our brand focus. we focus on urology and women's health. we've recently moved into very aggressively into the biosimilar space. we've tried to build a three-leg stool to our growth. >> and you have, last i read, about $6 billion in your piggy bank that you'd like to make a

transformational acquisition of some kind in the brand area. you're free to tell us who you're looking at right now if you want. >> i think i'll pass, but thanks. >> seriously, what percentage do you want that leg of the stool to represent in the future here, that brand name for a generic, one of the generic giants out there right now? >> we don't have a particular percentage in mind. what we think -- what we're trying to do is become a full line urology and women's health care company. and we think if we stay focused on that, the profits will come, and the revenue will come, and we will be able to provide great medicines for people around the world. so that's really the strategy. we don't really have a particular percentage in mind. >> the ailments that you're mentioning there, you're going to try and maintain that focus in all categories of your revenue stream, is that the idea? >> that's correct. we're certainly not abandoning the generic strategy in any way, but we're really focused on all three of those segments.

>> good to see you. thank you for joining us today. appreciate it very much. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, restaurants project strong earnings for the third quarter. are they sustainable? we'll talk to the chairman and ceo of darden. >> is iran tensions going unresolved? what's israel doing to build up the energy resources. a report coming up from israel in moments. time now for "going global" europe. >> hi, everybody. these are the stories we're watching in europe. tomorrow, after six months, italy's ban on short selling comes to an end. what will it do for the share prices at various banks. we'll have to wait and watch. speaking of banks, posting almost 2 billion loss. can lloyd's banking group do any better. reports from the uk bank in the morning.

also happening tomorrow, steve lisbon, my colleague in the u.s., speaks exclusively to tim think geithner. that's at 8:30 eastern time, which is 1430 central european time. tune in to cnbc world to catch all of the action from overseas. i'm louisa bjons.

holding an analyst's day tomorrow, but the company offered projected third-quarter results including eps of 123 to 125. and same-store sales for the major chains, red lobster, olive garden increasing 4%. >> let's see what darden did today, in today's trade. we're going to see darden restaurants, shares down 32 cents. joining us in an exclusive interview, clarence otis jr. and part of the message is that your biggest chain, olive garden, you're starting to turn things around there, right? >> we're seeing good fundamentals there. we've seen good moves in all brands. if you go back to prior quarter. >> interestingly, it was the way you were marketing your menu.

you were ek emphasizing the quality of the food. when you started reemphasizing value and pricing, that's when things turned around, right? >> it's always a delicate balance, where you've got to build brand and emphasize value at the same time. we were emphasizing value, we took a different approach to doing that this quarter. we felt the old approach had gotten a little stale. and the message wasn't coming through as clearly. so we put it in the frame of a prefix offer. that has certainly worked well. >> how much have you had to eat higher input costs and i guess the next question from that would be, to what extent do you feel you can pass on higher input costs to us? >> we've seen significant increases the first half of our fiscal year. that's the six months that ended at the end of november. and we ate those. we did not pass that along. our biggest input cost is seafood. seafood costs were up almost

20%. and so we had a lot of margin pressure the first half. that actually comes back to us in the second half. we don't have that kind of inflation. and so margins will begin to really normalize once more. >> by extrapolation, you won't have to pass on price increases to customers. >> that's right. we tend to price in the same range, regardless of environment. so 2% to 3% a year of the we've stayed there, even with the input cost pressure. >> you mentioned seafood prices coming back. for a while there lobster was pretty cheap. is it coming back in a big way now? >> the big driver of the increase was shrimp. and so shrimp has come back in a big way. but you point out a great point, which is, there's a lot of volatility. and so some years, you know, food costs are a tailwind for us. because they're in decline. and some years they're headwind. we try to be pretty consistent with our annual pricing. >> do you try to tailor the menu on pricing mechanisms, in other words, what you're paying for

those, you go for the higher food margin items or on consumer tastes? >> both. we can shape those from period to period through how we merchandise, and how we market. red lobster probably does more of that than the others, because there's more volatility, not just in costs, but availability with seafood. >> for want of a better explanation, quite often retailers and restaurant chains blame bad weather for bad results. we've been having fantastic weather out here, really mild winter. has that helped your results, do you think? >> oh, it did. in our announcement this morning we talked about the effect of that. so our blended for our big three brands, same-restaurant sales were up 4%. about half of that we think is attributable to more favorable weather this year than last year. that's a big number. but it reflects the fact that this winter was very mild. last winter was very severe. >> yes. >> so we had that contrast. >> yes. we remember. we've already established the

price sensitivity of your customers. we're asking all ceos the impact higher gasoline costs and other energy prices could have on your bottom line? it's clear that prices are going up at this stage. >> from a consumer perspective, dining out really is something that's ingrained in the lifestyle. so they may change how they spend, but the frequency doesn't change very much. and so we don't expect to see a lot of change in frequency from higher gasoline prices. >> the requisite question, are you looking to add any brands? >> we just added a very small brand at the end of last year called eddie v's. which is a premium, higher end seafood house. we think that has tremendous growth potential. but right now we feel great about our current portfolio, and its ability to drive profitable sales growth and value. >> you're in an industry where you have the pulse of the state of the consumer right now. how would you characterize the consumer at this point? >> i'd say continuing to improve. and so we've seen improvement, a

lot of volatility in that based on headlines. but over the last 18 months, so steady, slow improvement. underneath that, i think you've got a tale of two cities. i would say from a household income perspective, the top half, much more economically stable. and that's driving the improvement. the bottom half, still haven't seen some of that frequency come back yet. >> your favorite dish at olive garden is? >> braised briskit. they serve it on top of ri soet oh, and it's terrific. >> i'm sure it's calorie-free. >> good to see you. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> ceo of darden restaurants. "fast money" starts in a few minutes. melissa? >> we're going to dissect what high gas prices mean for the consumer, and for your trades. we're breaking it down.

what every dollar means in terms of gdp as well as personal income. and we're going behind why gas prices are so high, and it's not just iran. plus, we've got a cnbc exclusive with the ceo of 3-d systems, 3-d printing company. find out what his outlook is. all that, and much more, top of the hour on fast. >> ci can't get the braised bri kit out of my head now. >> we're going to take a closer look at what israel is doing to mitigate an energy shortage. >> and it's the highlight of his day. brian shactman in the house with our after-the-bell sweep. >> how pathetic am i if that's the highlight of my day. i have a company that is guiding eps to drop by 50% in 2012. we'll have the company, and the earnings next. time now for "going global" asia. >> just getting started here in asia, and these are the stories you want to look out for.

a huge political showdown in australia, as prime minister julia gilllard faces kevin regard in a leadership vote on monday. and market impact of the outcome. glen stevens testifies on the state of the economy to a house panel. what will he say on the nation's monetary policy. and singapore, the industrial output figures for january, will the data show a dip back into contraction territory. tune in to catch all the action overseas at cnbc's asia headquarters.

mr. after hours himself. brian has all the action. >> let's start with gap. they beat by three cents. the high end touches consensus and it's a wait and see kind of report. that's why i found 3/4 of 1%. the numbers looked okay on the top and bottom line and margins conpressed and it could be down 50% year over year. that is shocking.

the stock is down sdmin 1/3%. good revenue and they have guidance above consensus and analysts have been downgrading the name and maybe some who listen are piling back in. 12 and 1/4%. wt offshore reported 69 cents versus estimates of 47. they are up about 1%. it might be up even more than it is. it's only about 2%. a little bit of caution over margin compression. i want to update movers. i want to update aig. 3 and 1/4%. they are about half the gains up almost 6%. profit taking and crocks after weakness in q4. take a look at that stock. they are trading down 11%. after their earnings, that stock is up and down a half percent. 5% a few minutes ago.

always moving in after hours. back to you. >> just to prove we are live tv, iran's supreme leader and oil minster said sanctions will not stop the nuclear program. oil and gasoline prices have shot up. that hits americans hard with sky high taxes t hits israel harder. michelle is in israel reporting on the drive to make that country energy independent. >> imagine being israel and you are surrounded by oil-producing countries that don't like and you you are dependent on them for energy neats. that may have changed with the discovery of three years ago of natural gas. off the coast estimate they have combined reserves of 26 trillion cubic feet. once you find it, you have to drill for it.

one of the most prominent is chairman of one of the companies hoping to capture the natural gas. just one year ago, he was the most senior member of the israeli military. now as chairman of this company, he believes he is defending israel in a different way when it comes to energy independence. >> we are in the society in terms of economy and a better and a stronger posture. once we reached energetic independence. >> his company has a rig starting to drill in the fall. >> the situation is a lot more critical since the spring began. a major supplier, egypt is more unreliable. since mubarak was forced from power, the pipeline that runs through the peninsula hoeb bombed 12 times. the situation is so important that israeli prime minister

netanyahu risked angering turkey by going to cypress last week and when he was asked why, he gave a one-word answer. guess. >> great reporting as always. thank you very much. >> the inside track on what to watch tomorrow. >> be sure to catch the closing bell and the food and drug administration commissioner. you are watching cnbc. stay tuned. we are not done yet. first in business worldwide. ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained. the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer.

until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ ...that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. all in one account. keep watch on the markets. or use our exclusive tools to help find ideas. it's powerful, easy-to-use technology for trading stocks, options, and futures. keep trading whether you're at home, in the office, or on the go. optionsxpress, the broker smart traders deserve. open an account today at optionsxpress.com.

something else we notice what is moving in the after hours session, the price of oil in the session at 108.74. it settled at $107 range. just off the high. it helped the stock market higher and the dow was up 46 points and came close to 13,000. didn't breech it and didn't close there, but still we are in a multiyear high. the nasdaq up 23 points and a good gain there at 29.56. the s&p 500 was up five plus points and less than half a percent at the